Surprise, Surprise
by ThatAnonymousDB
Summary: When Marinette learns that Chat Noir is really Adrien, she remembers just how much stuff they had actually done together.
1. Surprise, Surprise

Marinette has had a lot of surprises in her life, to the point where she didn't think anything could truly shock her anymore. The most unbelievable things that had ever happened to her had been that she had been given the powers of Ladybug and became one of Paris's number one superheroes, and that Adrien Agreste, the famous model and her crush since his first ad appearance and subsequent magazine interview, was going to attend her school and be in her class. Not even the different Akuma she fought and almost lost to had shocked her as much as becoming Ladybug during her first battle. Marinette also knew that one day she would make her dream of being a fashion designer true (with a lot of work and love of course,) so if she did ever make it to the top of the fashion world, it wouldn't be something completely unexpected for her.

But she had been wrong. Very wrong. A big shock did in fact happen, and that was learning that her ridiculous and overly flirtatious partner, Chat Noir, was actually her crush Adrien.

"I can't believe this," Marinette said, sitting on top of the couch in her room, burying her face in a pillow.

She had just come back from the latest fight with an Akuma, one that had turned an angry pastry chief into the Crème brûsader, who was planning on baking Paris with an unbearable heat wave. That's where she found out the truth about Chat Noir and then ran away from him without a word before her own powers wore off, leaving Adrien standing there.

"What's wrong, Marinette?" asked Tikki, floating towards Marinette while eating a piece of cake.

The battle with the Crème brûsader hadn't spoiled her appetite for sweets. Marinette looked up from the pillow at Tikki, then she sighed. "Everything," Marinette replied.

"I know it must be a shock for you, but isn't this a good thing? Your partner is your crush! It has given you the chance to know him better."

"It probably is. The chances of me getting closer to Adrien otherwise were pretty low, knowing how I act."

Marinette sat up from the pillow and stared at her feet. "But still, part of me can't believe it. Adrien is just so….Adrien and Chat is just so….Chat."

"You're not making any sense Marinette."

"I know," she said, burying her face in her hands.

After few seconds of silence and inner frustration, Marinette got up from the couch and paced around the room, then she walked over to her desk and stared at her posters and prints of Adrien hanging above. Both his forms looked really similar, now that she thought about it. Marinette wouldn't deny from the parts of his face that were visible, Chat was attractive. She may have paid attention more to that fact if she hadn't noticed his civilian form first.

It was just hard to believe that Adrien could make so many…puns. _"_ _Though I'm one to talk,"_ Marinette thought, considering all the puns she started making as worked with him.

Also as Chat Noir, Adrien would act comical all the time. It made it hard to take what he said and did seriously. _"_ _I guess everyone has faults,"_ she thought.

But, it isn't like she didn't know that about people already. Even Adrien would have had some faults, this was just a different way of finding out. And Adrien as Chat…wasn't bad. Not bad at all. I mean, had she not liked him as Adrien first, she may have considered him as Chat Noir. She now knew a lot of his habits, good and bad, they worked well together as partners, Chat could be just as sweet as he is as Adrien and its not like she minded his puns and silliness that much. I mean, it certainly didn't bother her enough that she wouldn't joke back with him, hang out with him, or help him; like that time she saved him from Copycat or that time she kissed him to break Dark Cupid's spell…

"Wait," she said to herself aloud, right as she was staring intensely at the largest poster of Adrien that hung on her wall, his most recent perfume ad.

That one time she kissed him. She had kissed him. She had kissed Adrien Agreste.

"Oh my god."

Marinette could feel herself heat up faster than the freshly baked bread in her family's bakery. She grabbed her face in some attempt to get a hold of herself. Obviously, it did not help stop the shame and butterflies in her stomach from spreading throughout her entire body.

"What's wrong now?" asked Tikki.

Tikki had finished her cake and floated on over to see what was wrong with her. Marinette, still covering her face with her hands, wobbled passed Tikki, flung herself onto her couch, buried her face into the pillow again, ready to die due to the second big realization of the day. "We kissed."

Tikki seemed confused at first, then remembered what Marinette was referring to. "Oh, right when he was under Dark Cupid's spell."

"I kissed Adrien Agreste. On the lips. I kissed him for a full, good minute. And I didn't know it was him.…Oh my god, what other embarrassing things am I forgetting?"

All the moments that she had with Chat Noir/Adrien came flowing back to her: all the times he held and kissed her hand, the time he worked with Marinette in her civilian identity, called her a princess and _carried her_ (she almost stopped breathing remembering that,) and the multiple times he flirted with her and tried to kiss her (no matter how serious he really was.) Not to mention any of the times she embarrassed herself while she was Ladybug, he saw all of that too. All the negative shock from finding out Chat's identity was replaced with a new one. It was the shock that she had been doing everything she could have ever dreamed of with her crush, as well as every embarrassing thing she would have never been able to survive trying in real life. Every fiber in her body was red with embarrassment that was pleasant and mortifying at the same time.

"Please, end me Tikki. I don't think my heart can take much more of this."

"Well, if you are so flustered by all that stuff, you probably still like Adrien, regardless of him being Chat."

"Yeah… But how am I going to be able to face him now? I can't just pretend he isn't Adrien."

"Maybe you can."

"What?"

"Try to see him just as Chat Noir and act normal, until both of you decide how to handle his identity being exposed to you."

"What if I start acting like I usually do around him though? When he is Adrien, I mean."

"It won't be easy, but he doesn't know that you, Marinette are Ladybug. So he won't associate anything you do with your real identity as it currently stands. Maybe thinking about that may make it easier to interact with him as normally as possible."

"I…guess that makes sense? I'll try to do that Tikki. I can't let me potentially acting like a stammering dork stop us from keeping Paris safe."

"That's the spirit!"

Tikki hugged Marinette's face, barely wrapping around her cheek, glad that she made her feel better. Marinette smiled, but still, deep in her gut, she worried if how flustered she got thinking about the kiss would flare up when she stood with Adrien…Chat, face to face. She had certainly has had enough surprises to last a lifetime, she doesn't need to be the cause of anymore.

* * *

 **AN:** I can't believe how deep I am in this fandom that I actually wrote this. I may write a few more chapters for this fic (it was originally going to be a one-shot about Mari freaking out over the kiss, but I ended up getting more ideas) but I am not sure. Well, lets see what happens. I'll leave it in-progress for now.


	2. Guilt Trip

Adrien couldn't say he felt completely guilty over what happened. He himself had wanted to know about Ladybug's real identity for the last year or so. Of course, he respected her wishes and the general superhero guidelines about keeping one's identity secret for the sake of friends and families safety, so he wouldn't push it by asking about her life too much. However, Ladybug finding out who he really was fine; great if it even gave him the slightest chance to get know her better and vice versa. But the one thing he felt truly awful about was the look on Ladybug's face when she saw him.

After the Crème brusader had returned to being an ordinary pastry chief, Chat Noir was unable to run off in time and de-transformed in front of Ladybug (luckily, no one else was around and the pastry chief had been too baked to pay attention to them.) Ladybug's usual confident face had gone slack, her eyes wide and for once she didn't know what to say. She must have been shocked to find out who he was. She almost looked scared. Before they could even speak to each other however, she had to run away before her own Miraculous timed out. He was disappointed at her response, but understood. While it may seem unfair that he didn't find out her identity and she found out his, it was still an agreement both of them should respect as long as they were able to.

After finding the closest market that had Camembert, Adrien transformed back to Chat Noir and headed home. He snuck into his bedroom window without being noticed by the security cameras. After hoping onto the floor and then de-transforming, he finally spoke about what happened with Plagg.

"So she found out, huh?" asked Plagg, sounding a little curt.

"Yeah," Adrien replied, sighing heavily.

Plagg floated over to Adrien's bed and sat himself down on the covers. "You don't seem all that happy about it."

Adrien joined Plagg, sitting on the bed, then lying down on his back, sinking into the expensive comfy mattress. It was helping him out a little bit.

"I mean, I wanted to know who she was, so it shouldn't be such a big deal that she knows who I am, but…"

"But?"

The distress on Ladybug's face came back to him and hit him in the face hard enough to make him wince at himself. How horrible was he to get her to look like that?

"I didn't want it to happen like this I guess. I mean did you see her face? It's like she was terrified of me."

"It must've been shocking to find out your partner is someone famous," said Plagg, shrugging like the answer was obvious.

Adrien rolled his eyes, though Plagg didn't see him do it. "I don't think that was the main reason at all, Plagg."

Or maybe it was? Maybe Ladybug felt she should've treated him differently this entire time because of his celebrity status, which would've bothered him a lot, since he got enough "special treatment" daily.

Or, the more likely answer, maybe she didn't like Adrien Agreste at all. What if she thought of him poorly? Why else would she look like that when his powers wore off? While a lot of people admired him and those in his profession, some people had a lot of criticism towards the fashion industry and those involved in it. What if she was disgusted to be associated with someone who was likely to be vain, shallow or only interested material possessions? Ladybug certainly wasn't the type who liked people like that, remembering her interactions with Chloe (while deep, deep, deep down, she had her moments, Chloe could often rub people the wrong way.)

As much as he could understand that viewpoint and felt it sometimes himself, it hurt a lot to know Ladybug may dislike who he was under the mask because of his job, especially when it wasn't even what he wanted to do his entire life.

"Regardless of the reason, what's done is done. All now that remains is what to do about it," Plagg said, crossing his tiny arms.

"Yeah. I should probably call and talk with her about it."

Adrien got up from his bed, transformed into Chat Noir and turned on the communicator in his staff. "Hey, Ladybug, you there?"

She didn't respond, probably since she was unlikely to be transformed at the moment. After a few more minutes, Ladybug picked up and appeared on his small screen. She was outside somewhere and her face looked a little red, almost matching her mask. "Ye-yeah, I'm here…Chat."

Something was off about her voice, the way she spoke and she hesitated on saying his name. It must've been the awkwardness of the situation and what to call him now. "Um, can we meet up? We should talk about…you know."

"Yeah!" Ladybug said, a little louder than she probably intended. "How about tonight at the Eiffel Tower? Around ten?"

"That sounds good."

It would give both of them time to think about how to approach this, although he would be feeling a bit antsy in the mean time. "I'll see you then," he said, smiling softly, trying to ease the awkwardness.

"Uh, y-yeah," she replied, her face flinching slightly. "See you then."

The screen blinked and went dark and Adrien groaned at himself. It was such a small thing and attempt to make things better, but even him smiling was enough to bother her. Did she really dislike him that much? The next couple of hours were going to be less of a time to think about what to say and more of a torture session.

* * *

 **AN:** So I am going to continue this after all. I have about four chapters in mind altogether, so it will be short. This chapter is shorter and was harder to write compared to the first. I hope the next two turn out better.


	3. Surprise, Surprise Update

Hey followers of this fic:.

So I really need to apologize for not keeping you updated; I had a lot going on in my life between school, work, and dealing with depression.

But the main reason I am writing this is to say that I will no longer be updating "Surprise, Surprise." Not long after I started writing this fic, an episode aired that affected my interpretation of how Adrien and Marinette met, and it delayed me from writing the next chapter. Then, I eventually got less involved with the show and fandom when the hiatus hit.

Now with the new season coming up, I remembered this fic gathering dust, but I have no desire to finish it. I do not really want to write it half-heartily, so I wanted to apologize to those still looking forward to an update, and let them know rather than never update with an explanation. I have been on the other side of waiting for a fic to update, so I felt I should at least inform you about this rather than not.

Also, since I get that it can suck not knowing how a fic would end, I am going to give a summary chapter of how "Surprise, Surprise" would have ended, since I did manage to think that far ahead. If you have no interest in reading a summary, as it would spoil your experience, you don't have to read it. Thank you all for being understanding.


	4. Surprise, Surprise Summary

Basically, in the third chapter, Adrien and Marinette as heroes meet on top of the Eiffel Tower, and talk about Chat Noir's identity reveal. After seeing more of her awkward behavior, Chat states he is worried that Ladybug doesn't like Adrien, and thinks he is superficial. Ladybug says she thinks nothing of the sort, and is only surprised that he was Adrien all along. Chat is relieved, and says that then everything should just go on as normal. Ladybug has mixed feelings on this, but decides it is probably the best option for now.

In the fourth chapter, as time passes, Marinette's crush on Adrien affects her work as Ladybug and working with him as Chat Noir. Every time he flirts with her, or does something remotely romantic, she gets nervous and messes up while fighting, even with her powers. Eventually, Chat notices this and worries that despite her words, his identity has caused some sort of issue. He gently confronts her on this after a battle, and Ladybug decides it may be better to just tell him the truth, about liking him and her own identity. They have another private meeting, and Ladybug tells Adrien that she developed a crush on him after reading a fashion magazine interview where his answers were very sincere compared to other models. Marinette normally wouldn't get an intense crush on a guy, or a celebrity, without knowing they were a good person, so the article really stood out to her. Adrien is very surprised, and embarrassed by her honesty, so he is taken aback rather than use it as an opportunity to tease. Also, he is in a state of awe that Ladybug likes him. Then, Marinette reveals her identity, surprising Adrien, and the fic ends there with maybe a small cute epilogue scene with Alya and Nino after.


End file.
